Combined rail anchor and tie plate



July 9, 1929- o. J. suRPRENANT 5T A. 1.720.578

COMBINED RAIL ANCHOR AND TIE PLATE v Filedmaroh s, 1929 will b'. uanraaaPatented July 9, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR J. SURPRENANT yANI) HENRY B. BACHRACH, 0F SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK.

COMBINED RAIL ANCHOR AND TIE PLATE.

Application filed March 28, 1929.

It is present practice in the mostapproved railroad track constructionfor the tie plate to be fastened to the wooden cross tie by screwspikes. The tie plate is held in place by cut steel spikes driven intothe.tie and extending through holes punched in the tie plate. The railis kept from running or creeping by rail anchors clamped on to the baseof the rail at varying intervals so as to bear directly against the sideof the cross ties. These rail anchors are effective in but onedirection. rI'he cut spikes gradually work out due to the wave motion ofthe track under traffic, lose their holding power and from constantredriving, the wooden ties become what is known as spike killed, that isthe fibres of the tie are cut through so that eventually the tie rotsand breaks at this point. Furthermore, the cut spikes do not hold therail tightly enough against the tie plate to prevent the tie plate fromwearing rapidly.

The combined rail anchor and tie plate which forms the subject-matter ofthis application is designed to hold the rail firmly down upon the tieplate and the tie plate firmly down upon the tie without the necessityof using cut spikes while the Y anchoring means, which is interlockedwith the tie plate, acts to hold the rail against movement in eitherdirection, thus entirely eliminating they necessity of using cut spikes.

Our invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, wherein Figure1 is a top plan view of our rail anchor and of the rail placed upon thetie;

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the rail supporting plate;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1; I

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section showing a slight modification asregards the engagement of the plate with the rail.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the usual wooden tie and 11the metal tie plate mounted thereon. This tie plate is formed on itsmiddle line with a recess 12 defined by the shoulders 13, which recesshas a width exactly the same as that of the base of the rail 14. One ofthese shoulders 13 may be made so as to overhang the base of the rail,but preferably neither of the shoulders will overhang the base of therail. The tie plate 11 at its middle extends beyond the side edgesSerial No. 350,726.

of the tie and preferably both ends of this projecting portion of thetie plate are slotted or cut away as at 15, these slots extending inwardfrom the side edges of the extension of the tie plate and being adaptedto receive upwardly projecting portions of one or more rail anchors 16.

Each rail anchor has a portion extending transversely across and beneaththe extension of the tie plate, this portion at one end beinglormed'with the upwardly projecting lug 17 and at its opposite end therail anchor is bent downward as at 18, then upward at 19 andtransversely at 20 so that the portion 20 will bear against the upperface of the base of the rail 14. rl`he curve given to the parts 18 and19 causes this portion of the anchor to be somewhat resilient and toexert a downward pressure and clamping action upon the upper face of therail. The portion 17 and portion 19 extend upward into the slots 15 andthus cach anchor is held from longitudinal movement with relation to thetie. The tie plate is apertured at a plurality of points with holes forthe reception of the screw spikes 21. but no cut spikes are used to holdthe rail plates as the rail is held in place by the anchors 20 whichcannot come ofi" because they are disposed within the slots 15. It willbe noted from Figure 4 that the anchor at one end of the tie plate isreversed with relation to the anchor at the other end of the tie plate.

When the rail is put in place upon the tie plate, the anchors are drivenon transversely of the tie plate until the lug 17 springs up into thecorresponding slot 15 when the portion 19 is forced into the oppositeslot 15 as shown. The rail anchor holds the rail rigidly in place on thetie plate, eliminating entirely the use of cut spikes. The rail anchoris made of spring steel and is readily driven into place and locked inthe slots provided in the extended portion of the tie plate.

The bent end of the rail anchor is expanded in forcing it on to the railso that it exerts great pressure on the base of the rail and 4thefriction exerted between itself, the base of the rail and the tie plateholds the rail from running or creeping and inaslnuch as the rail anchoris disposed in a slot on each side of the tie plate, the rail anchor isparticularly effective in prevent-ing the rail from creeping in eitherdirection.

This construction which we have devised can be manufactured andinstalled at a rea- 2 imams sonable cost and will save spikes, crossties and the consequent expense of maintenance. This combined railanchor and tie plate eliminates track spikes, increases the life of thewooden cross ties, decreases the wear between the rail and tie plate,prevents the rail from running or creeping in either direction, andimproves t-he general track conditions.

We have illustrated the bottom of the recess 12 as being slightly cantedor at an angle to the bottom of the tie plate, but obviously we do notwish to be limited to this.

We claim l. A combined tie plate and anchor, the tie plate having-.shoulders upon its upper face between which the base ot a rail may bedisposed, the tie plate having means whereby it may be attached to atio, the tie plate having extensions at opposite ends, the lateralmargins or' the said extension being slotted and a rail anchor extendingbeneath the extension and having at one end an upwardly extending'lugengaging one of said slots and at its other end having an upwardly andinwardly extending clamping portion adapted to extend upward through theother of said slots and over the base of the rail andclainpinglyengaging the same, said anchor being somewhat resilient.

2. A combined tie plate and rail anchor comprising a tie plate adaptedto rest upon a tie and formed with opposed shoulders betweenkwhich thebase ot' a rail may be disposed, the tie plate having openings throughwhich screw spikes may be passed and the tie plate at one end beingextended to project beyond the tie, the opposite margins ot saidextension being slotted, and an anchor of resilient metal, the anchorbeing formed with a portion adapted to extend beneath the extension otthe tie plate, one end ot the anchor portion having an outwardlyextending lug to extend in one of said slots, the other end of t-heanchor being downwardly, upwardly and inwardly and downwardly curved toextend up through the other of said slots and resiliently bear againstthe upper face of the base of the rail.

3. A tie plate adapted to rest upon a tie and having the middle portionthereof extended in opposite directions to project beyond t-he tie, saidextensions each being formed at its opposite margins with inwardlyextending slots, an anchor associated with each of said extensions, eachanchor having a portion adapted to extend beneath theV tie plate and atone end being formed with an upwardly extending lug to interlock in oneoi said slots and at the other end being downwardly, upwardly andinwardly curved to extend upward into the other of said slots, andresiliently bear against the upper' face of a rail disposed on said tieplate.

4. A tie plate having opposed shoulders between which a rail may bedisposed and having means whereby the tie plate may be held to the tie,ythe tie plate having a slot extending inward from one side edge of theplate, the opposite side margin of the plate having an upwardlyextending recess, and a rail anchor having a portion adapted to extendbeneath the tie plate and at its end being formed with an upwardlyextending lug to interlock with and snap into said recess when theanchor is applied, the other end of the anchor being curved to extendupwardly through said slot and then upward and inward whereby to have aresilient wet ging engagement against the upper face of a rail disposedupon the tie plate.

ln testimony whereof we hereunto atiix our signatures.

OSCAR J. SURPRENANT. HENRY B. BACHRACH.

